Observations after a month of play

[tinkthank]

OK.

[BkWyrm]

Bogus showed up in one of my SP games the other night. Think I was playing Ulm. I ran his kill total up to several hundred before I just left him alone and started concentrating on the AIs. That wraith sword on a regenerative creature with his other items is nasty.

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by tinkthank:
Yes, I do compete for them.
I meant: 100 GP worth of E-Knights is better than 100 GP worth of anything else (unless you count fully upgraded and equipped high-research-level mages). That is what I mean by "too powerful".
And 20 Crossbows is slightly more than a handful in my book. But then again, my book is entitled Analytik und Ethik der Namen, so that probably means squat.

That's the point of mercenaries though. They are supposed to be better than what you could buy for the same gold cost. Hector's Heavy Horse for example would cost far more than 220 gold if you recruited them yourself.

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by tinkthank:
I agree that Mercs, at least some of them, are often too powerful. Certainly the Eternal Knights are. I also slavishly recruit all the mercs I can, whenever I can, even if it is only simply to keep my enemies from recruiting them.

This is actually a realistic strategy: In ancient times, rulers *DID*, in fact, hire mercenaries often for the purpose of denying them to their enemies, not to mention keeping unemployed mercenaries from becoming bandits.

If you feel a merc is too powerful for its asking price, and people agree, that mercenary company will be quickly bid up in price to whatever people feel it's actually worth. If you're getting them at bargain basement prices, people must not feel they're worth hiring.

[PrinzMegaherz]

OTOT: nope, I teach philosophy at a German university and research at a philosophical research institute.

Nice, which university? I am thinking about studying philosophy next year, so maybe you can give some recomendations.

[GavinWheeler]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
In ancient times, rulers *DID*, in fact, hire mercenaries often for the purpose of denying them to their enemies, not to mention keeping unemployed mercenaries from becoming bandits.

Now that could be a fun random event - mercenaries who remain unemployed for too long start randomly pillaging provinces for cash!